"John Ringo - The Legacy of the Aldenata 5 - The Hero" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

Despite shorter legs, the Darhel strode easily down the duraplast hallway alongside the captain,
feeling the human's conflicting thoughts. Beneath the turmoil, there was order and confidence. Even more
than regular troops, sensats needed to know their commanders were prepared to deal with issues. Tirdal
felt the coming question arising before Bell Toll opened his mouth. "So what do you think, Tirdal?"
"Of the situation, Captain? Of the team? Of the preparations?"
"Of the team, for now."
"I don't think they like me much," Tirdal said slowly. He said everything slowly. His voice wasn't
taciturn or filtered to be deep and empty, that was just how Darhel spoke. His only expression was a flip
of his right ear.
The pictures to either side of them were more formal, line drawings and holos of battles and
locales. Bell Toll appeared to study them as he walked, though he'd no doubt seen them thousands of
times before.
"They may not like you," the captain said, frowning. "Yet. But small teams require trust and
teamwork. Since you're new and haven't been with the team in their exercises, or missions for that
matter, you're naturally going to experience a bit of standoffishness. This is just the nature of being new
to a team. Don't let it worry you. Do your job and everyone will forget that . . ."
"That I'm a shiftless Darhel freak?" Tirdal supplied with an ear flick.
"If you take that point of view things will be very rough indeed," the captain said, stopping to lock
eyes with the Darhel. "And I won't tolerate discrimination."
"Yes, sir," Tirdal agreed, tasting the forceful honesty in the statement. For a wonder, the team
commander seemed to accept him at face value: as a "newbie" team member, not a Darhel, not an evil
demon Shylock. Still, the captain was keeping him separated from the rest of the team at present. Tirdal
partly appreciated that because there was less stress in their thoughts when he wasn't around, but it
wasn't a good sign. They'd have to learn to be comfortable to function.
"But you still have to respect their unity and work to earn their trust," Bell Toll said, as ifhe were the
sensat. "If you try to mess with the experienced members, they will go hard on you, trust me. You're the
new boy, learn to deal."
"Yes, sir. I'm prepared for that."
"Good. They'reтАФwe'reтАФgoing to give you the respect due your rank. But it is up to you to prove
that you're worthy to be here, not up to us to prove that we are."
"Yes, sir," Tirdal said as they reached the captain's office.
"I'm sure you've got your own preparations," Bell Toll said as he turned at his door. "Oporder for
the exercise is at zero nine hundred. Same briefing room."
Tirdal flicked his ear again, then left as Bell Toll closed the door.
Back in the team's briefing room, the NCO in charge had just returned. He'd arrived late and left
early to deal with details, and no one had had a chance to talk to him, yet. Shiva, as he was known,
walked in to the middle of the heated discussion about the Darhel. It was rather vehement, and he'd not
even sat down before Thor confronted him.
"We gotta goddamned Darhel sensat dumped on us, Sarge," he complained without even a nod of
greeting.
"I know, I was here," Shiva said. He was calm. Shiva was always calm. Considering the missions
and the troops, it was a good attribute, and he'd made it as long as he had and to his rank because of it.
"Good. What are you going to do about it?" Thor asked.
"Nothing," Shiva replied. "Nothing I can do, and he's the sensat we've got. Sorry, Thor, you'll have
to get used to him."
"They probably let the little shrimp ghost Q course," Gorilla put in. "They always go easy on
sensats." His voice was deep and gravelly to match his huge size.
"Think so, huh?" Shiva asked, turning toward him.
"Yeah, am I wrong?"
"Well," Shiva drawled, a faint smile of amusement spreading across his face as he spread across